A Pew poll showed marriage equality support at a much lower level – just 49%.

And Think Progress reports on a fourth poll, this one from Reuters/Ipsos:

…a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted between January 1 and March 14 found similar results, though it fell into the trap of asking about civil unions without forcing respondents to choose between same-sex marriage and nothing. As a result, it found 63 percent support marriage or civil unions, with 41 percent favoring full marriage equality. Only a quarter of respondents opposed any form of relationship recognition, though opposition was stronger in regions like the South and lowest in the Northeast. The poll does note that support for marriage is surpassing support for civil unions.

“The Washington Post thought it knew where the American people stood on marriage. Just two days ago, news outlets were plastering its poll results of ‘record’ backing for same-sex ‘marriage’ on their websites–only to see the support vanish as quickly as it appeared. Today, the Reuters Corporation released the results of an even bigger poll than the Post’s and found that only 41% of America supports the case being made by Ted Olson and David Boies at the Supreme Court.

He conveniently sidesteps the fact that this poll gave respondents an out by including civil unions, and that when those are included, support soars to 61%.

USA Today looks at some of the details behind the Pew poll – iy’s all thanks to youth and flip-floppers:

Support among Millennials — young adults born since 1980 — has risen from 51% in 2003 to 70% today. No other age group tops 50%. Nearly one-third of gay marriage supporters, or 28%, say they have changed their minds — most often because they know someone who is gay. Nearly all those who oppose it have always done so.

According to an analysis by top campaign pollsters Jan van Lohuizen, who has worked with former President George W. Bush, and Joel Benenson, who served as pollster for the Obama campaign, 51 percent of Republicans under 30 support the legalization of same-sex marriage at the state level. The study, commissioned by the pro-marriage equality group Young Conservatives for the Freedom to Marry, is based on the answers of 5,322 Election Day voters nationwide.